Wednesday, May 28, 2008

In transit

First leg of the flight is done. I'm in the Dublin Airport. In a most shocking turn of events, my flight LEFT early--nearly 15 minutes early. I can remember many a flight leaving on time, but leaving early? Let's just hope they didn't leave any one behind. Given the circumstances, it wasn't surprising that we arrived almost an hour early (we made good time). However, the gate wasn't ready for us, so we sat on the tarmac for a good half hour before we could deplane.

The flight was uneventful. They gave us dinner and there was a personal tv screen in the seatback, though the selection was meager. I watched a film I'd never heard of from 2006--and now I know why. I could have watched "No Country for Old Men" or that oil one with Daniel Day Lewis, but I wasn't in the mood. Never have been in the mood for either of those films and traveling is traumatic enough--soothing, amusing, inoffensive, non-thought-provoking entertainment is the ticket. Unfortunately, the film I did see seemed to be missing a few crucial scenes and, bizarrely had Jon Lovitz as the ex-husband of Michelle Pfeiffer--and she was the loser. Huh? Basically, you lost me right there. Any film about May-December romance with MP as the December has to be something of a joke. (May was Paul Rudd, who I like.) How many 40-somethings look even half as good as she does?

Anyway, I managed to drag things out to the last minute in DC and left a little unfinished business at home. Whoops.

I ran around, moving things, cleaning things, etc. Then, I took a shower and put my sheets and towels (and a pair of pants, socks and underwear) in the wash. After which, I decided to go to the movies. I'd arranged for a car to pick me up at 4pm to take me to the airport (a big indulgence, but I decided to splurge). That would give me about an hour after getting back from the movies to: run the dishwasher (forgot to do it earlier), finish the laundry (maybe?) and put away the last few things.

I should have skipped the movies. I got home and found myself running from room to room and then, at 3:30 the phone rang. The car was early because the driver feared traffic. I said I'd be ready in 5 minutes, but I forgot that one load of laundry was still in the washer. I quickly folded the dry items and put them in the hamper, for which I don't have a storage spot. Then, I hung out the pants to dry and threw everything else in the dryer.

Dishwasher was still running, so I left it.

What kills me is that we hit only the mildest traffic and made it from my house to Dulles Airport (in far away Virginia) in about 45 minutes. We left at 3:50. Meaning that I was at the airport at 4:30 for my 7:10 pm flight. I was at the gate around 5:15. That's exactly why I wanted the car at 4pm--to minimize airport time. Yes, the security line was long, but not that long.

So, I sent Ken (my renter) a text message asking him to take the laundry out of the dryer when he checks the mail next week. He's not moving in until the weekend but I asked him to pick up the mail once, just in case my ATM card arrives and also to keep the mailbox from overflowing. He wrote back asking if he could wear the clothes. Sure, Ken, because the clothing for this 5'5" woman will be perfect for a 6'5" man. Since the pants were already out of the dryer, I told him he could use the towels.

The final disposition of stuff went something like this:

Bike and camping gear to Pele

Old sleeping bag to KJ

Cat and most cat accoutrement to KJ

Six boxes in the basement:

stereo (original box--only 16 years old),

speakers, dvd player, misc. junk,

vcr (original box--just a couple of years old),

small box with bedroom/office junk

small box with bicycle gear

large box with cat stuff (left by mistake) and random items

Also in basement:

table from backroom,

office chair,

small cooler,

old light fixtures,

extra buckets and

large garbage bag filled with stacking storage containers that became obsolete in the reorganizing process.

Most of my clothing is in the back closet, either hanging or in boxes/bins, along with all the shoes I'm leaving behind (a shockingly large number). Linens are in the back closet and on the top shelf of the linen closet. The floor of the linen closet has a couple of bins with towels and a few more bins with toiletries, plus my tool kit and sewing kit.

The hall closet, which has some awkward under the stairs space, has my records, turntable, a couple of bins holding yarn and another small cart with random bags and more linens (I have a tremendous amount of linens).

The top shelf of the bedroom closet is filled with bins of clothing, some sweaters in bags (where I usually keep them) and pillows.

Oy vey. It makes my head hurt just thinking about all that stuff! I may need to do more purging when I get back. But how to resist the urge to fill the vacuum?

I wonder how I would feel living surrounded by so many things that belonged to someone else? I guess I'll find out…though my Paris apartment is much less personal in its furnishings.

It's 9:33am in Dublin. My flight to Paris doesn't leave until 12:25. I'm wide awake and tired at the same time. That's probably not possible. I didn't sleep much on the plane, the trip was too short and some turbulence kept me up.

Am I really doing this? Seems crazy. Mad. If it's a mistake, I' know soon enough. And if it's a mistake, I can come home or go elsewhere. The mistake would have been not to try. No regrets.

(PS It's the second day in Paris and I have more stories of French bureaucracy and friendly French people who try to speak English…but now I have to try calling my dad before I go to the movies--in English! Au revior, for now.)